The Box Elder’s new 7-inch on the HOZAC label is finally in stock at the Antiquarium, according to guitarist  Jeremiah McIntyre. Get it while you can. He said the band’s new 12-inch 45 rpm EP will be coming out soon on Captured Tracks out of Brooklyn. It just keeps getting better…

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My download service of choice — Lala.com — announced that it’s shutting down at the end of May. Or, more accurately, Lala is being shut down by Apple, who purchased the company last December. This is likely the first step in creating a “cloud-based” iTunes that would allow you to access your digital library from any web-connected device. If it works like Lala, then you could upload your entire digital collection “to the cloud,” which would mean you would no longer need to worry about your iPhone/iPod/iPad hard-drive limitation — as long as you had a signal (3G or Wifi) you could listen to anything in your collection. Let us pause and think about the implications of this. Again: Upload entire collection once, access from any Wifi/3G-connected device. Hmmm… Details.

* * *

The Digital Leather $15 early-download + vinyl offer continues despite the fact that the band met its $600 goal in less than a day. “We’re putting a cap on the number that we send out,” DL says. “No more than 150 vinyls with special covers will be produced… any additional funds raised will go toward additional recording equipment. Shawn has his eye on a Manley ELOP limiter, which ‘makes songs sound like heroin,’ so we’ll see how close we come to that. If not that, and probably more likely, additional funds will buy our tickets to Europe this September.” You can get in on this offer here.

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Well, it’s finally here — the It’s True CD release party for the band’s debut full-length. Joining the band on the Waiting Room stage are The Haunted Windchimes (Pueblo, CO) and Omaha favorite Bear Country.

According to Jesse Stanek’s piece in The Reader, the CD is being released on Kyle Harvey’s Slo-Fi Records. As much as I like Kyle’s label, I’m disappointed that someone a bit larger didn’t pick it up. Maybe they will. Look what happened to UUVVWWZ. Their debut came out on Darren Keen’s It Are Good label before Saddle Creek committed to the band and rereleased it. What more does a label like Saddle Creek need from an act besides a quality product (though I haven’t actually heard their CD yet) and willingness to tour? It’s True seemingly could provide both.

Also tonight, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies performs as part of a four-band bill at Slowdown that also includes Satchel Grande. $10, 8 p.m. And Capgun Coup’s Sam Martin headlines an acoustic show at The Hole with Sean Pratt, Brandon Behrens and Allen Schleich of Snake Island –the show is a benefit for the performers upcoming tour of China. $6, 7 p.m.

Tomorrow night is the Mynabirds CD release show with Jeremy Messersmith and The So-So Sailors. This show is in the Slowdown Front Room, which means it could very easily sell out. Get there early (if only to also catch Messersmith’s solo set). $8, 9 p.m. Also Saturday night, Son of 76 and The Watchmen are playing at Harrah’s Stir Lounge — one of the few local bands that I think could actually carry off a three-hour set (When is Harrah’s going to figure out that most indie bands’ sets only last (and only should last) about 35 minutes?) $5, 9 p.m.

An addendum to The Mynabirds feature I posted this morning (read it here, or actually if you’re reading this in the blog, just scroll down): Pitchfork came out with the review of their new album, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, and gave it an unheard of 8.0 rating — unheard of, that is, for a Saddle Creek Records release. Among the review’s bon mots (which is here):

“The charm of the record isn’t a matter of reinventing familiar sounds so much as working within them with comfort and grace. Nothing sounds overworked. If anything, Burhenn and Swift present the songs in an understated manner, confident in the quality of the material and the strength of her voice.”

Adding to Pitchfork‘s applause, I will say that WWLITFWGITF (how’s that for shorthand?) is the best album Saddle Creek has released since Mama, I’m Swollen, and that The Mynabirds is the first signing since Rilo Kiley with the critical and commercial appeal of the label’s original Big Three (BE/Faint/Cursive). Now it’s just a question of how they market the album — which is a huge riddle in this era of industry decline. Because the fact is, there may not be anything Creek could do to make this record sell well. As an example, I give you Georgie James, a band that (as Burhenn says in the interview) did everything expected of a successful indie rock band, including an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and in the end, that record still only sold just north of 4,000 copies.  It’s not just about quality and touring anymore. It’s about getting one of your songs licensed for a television commercial or prominently used in a critically acclaimed motion picture or television show. It’s about having a video that somehow “goes viral,” or getting mentioned on an A-list celebrity’s twitter feed. It’s about luck. And despite what anyone says, you can only make so much luck on your own.

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s Lawrence indie rockers Cowboy Indian Bear with Honey & Darling and Ghosty. CIB brings the rock, and is definitely worth checking out, especially for a mere $5. Show starts at 9.

The Mynabirds: Zen Songs

The existential sounds of Laura Burhenn

by Tim McMahan

Sometimes you just have to let it go.

But before you do, you have to acknowledge the situation — reach a level of acceptance — and then, move on. It’s a very Zen philosophy, and it’s worked for Laura Burhenn, singer/songwriter of The Mynabirds.

She’s applied that existential attitude throughout her career, starting as a solo artist before joining with former Q and Not U frontman John Davis for indie pop act Georgie James in 2006.

Georgie James checked off most of the items on the must-do list for indie rock success. They released an album on a respected label (Saddle Creek Records), toured internationally, had their video played on MTV and performed on a late-night network talk show (Late Night with Conan O’Brien).

“From an outsider’s perspective, you see those benchmarks and check them off and say that the band was really successful,” Burhenn said last week while sipping a Manhattan on the patio at Slowdown.

But less than a year after the October 2007 release of their debut, Places, Burhenn and Davis found themselves trying to communicate through walls, before finally splitting up. “We had different ideas of what we wanted to do musically and where we wanted to go with our lives,” she said. “It made sense to do different projects. I never wanted the band to break up. I figured we might go our separate ways for awhile and come back and do another album, but it wasn’t to be.”

The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood

While Georgie James was still in full swing, Burhenn had continued writing and performing as a solo artist in her former hometown of Washington, D.C. “I had been holding back songs for the next record,” she said. “I wanted to write a record about reflective consciousness, something really political and heady. I was trying to mathematically work out this symphony.”

But Burhenn knew after recording demos that the concept was too complicated and wasn’t going to work. Wanting to make a complete break from her Georgie James past, Burhenn was convinced by friend and fellow musician Orenda Fink to move to Omaha in the fall of 2008 and to also join her on tour as a keyboard player and backing vocalist for Fink’s project, O+S.

“That experience was totally life changing,” Burhenn said. “Orenda’s a songwriter that isn’t afraid to approach music as art.”

When Burhenn returned from the tour, she threw out almost everything she had been working on and started over. She took her new material to the Oregon studio of personal musical hero Richard Swift, a singer/songwriter whose 2007 album, Dressed Up for a Let Down, was a huge inspiration. “The first time I met (Saddle Creek label chief) Robb Nansel I said, ‘You have to hear this record. It’s amazing.’ And he kind of laughed and told me that Saddle Creek put it out overseas.”

The label facilitated connecting Burhenn and Swift, and the two finally met at the South by Southwest Festival in 2009, where they agreed to collaborate on her record, with Swift focusing on the arrangements and the two playing almost all the instruments. Joining them on the recording was Fink, musician/engineer/producer AJ Mogis; Tom Hnatow (These United States) on pedal steel; and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), who arranged the horns.

The result was What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, a 10-song collection of rootsy, gospel-influenced songs about love, loss and resolution that reflects soberly on the past but looks forward with a glass-half-full optimism.

Among the opening numbers is the piano-pounding rocker “Let the Record Show.” With the lines “Let the record show, you gave a real good fight / And let the record show, so did I,” the song is an after-the-fact account of a relationship gone wrong.

"The album is a very simple story about loss and recovery.”

“It’s the most cathartic song on the record,” Burhenn said, acknowledging its thematic connection to Georgie James. “The idea is that it’s not going to help anyone holding onto a terrible experience. It says, ‘I don’t know what happened here, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Let it go.’ It’s about forgiveness.”

That healing theme continues with the dense, gorgeous heart-breaker “Right Place,” that looks back at a failed relationship, and closes with the line “I haven’t changed my mind, God knows I tried.” Burhenn said it was the last song written for the album.

“Until I wrote it, I didn’t think I had a song in this whole story that made peace with anything. That song went there,” she said. “There’s something sad and kind of mean at the end, but resigned. I tried to sing it from my perspective as well as imagining John Davis singing that song. The idea that we tried our best, it didn’t work, and it’s where it needs to be.

“The album is a very simple story about loss and recovery,” Burhenn concluded. “I turn to music to lift me out of dark times.”

With the album in the can, Burhenn said other labels were interested in releasing it, but that she stayed with Saddle Creek Records despite reservations she would be “mixing business with pleasure.”

“I was thinking, ‘These are my friends who I’ve grown to love. Is this healthy?’ But then I thought why wouldn’t I want to put out a record with people I trust and admire? Saddle Creek puts out records that they love or by people that they love. I always admired Saddle Creek because it’s like a found family.”

Burhenn once again looked to Orenda Fink to help put together yet another found family — her touring band The Mynabirds. The group is a who’s who of Omaha talent that includes Johnny Kotchian (drums), Dan McCarthy (bass and vocals), Pearl Lovejoy Boyd (vocals), Ben Brodin (guitars and vocals), and Alex McManus (guitars, horns, and vocals). Plans call for a short northeast tour in early June, followed by a full U.S. tour later in the year.

The Mynabirds play with The So-So Sailors and Jeremy Messersmith, Saturday, May 1, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $8. For more information, visit theslowdown.com.

Like the headline says. The band had some mechanical troubles. There are no plans to reschedule.

Some additional notes from the Jeremy Messersmith interview…

Messersmith said the hardest part of his music career has been dealing with criticism. “I’m too sensitive to bad reviews,” he said. “I remember the bad reviews the most, and they make me not want to do this anymore. At the same time, these people (critics) are justified in their opinions.” On top of that, Messersmith said he’s also started to get hate mail — that’s right, hate mail. “It’ll be a random Myspace comment or e-mail from someone I don’t know. It’s weird. Stuff like ‘You epitomize hipster assholery.’ At the same time, when people hear my music, I want them to really like it or really hate it. Anything’s better than indifference.”

Finally, Messersmith said he “loosely shopped around” his new album, The Reluctant Graveyard, but “I’ve always been more of a do-it-yourself person. I’m not sure what a label would offer other than additional money. There aren’t any labels in Minneapolis that I want to be part of, and I don’t know a whole lot of record people. As a singer/songwriter — rather than being in a band — it’s easier to connect with people using web tools. So it seemed like a good fit (releasing the album) myself.” And, he added, no label showed interest. “Most indie people thought my stuff was too direct or too poppy; and it wasn’t poppy enough for the majors. I occupy some sort of nether region of music.”

Column 268: The Reluctant Rockstar

Jeremy Messersmith’s scarce goods.

It was pure, unbridled serendipity that I ever discovered Jeremy Messersmith’s music. As you can imagine, I get quite a few CDs in the mail — most of them by anonymous-sounding bands with bad names and poor taste in art. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: Album artwork (even on CDs) is very important. If your art is bad, bland or just plain poorly conceived and printed, it’s going to get lost in the shuffle/pile/mountain of discs that stack up (or get placed under) an editor’s desk. And if your band name is offensively stupid, it’s going to get thrown in the trash.

There was nothing particularly interesting about Jeremy Messersmith’s name or the packaging and artwork for The Silver City, his second album that came out on tiny label Princess Records a couple years ago. There was no reason that — instead of throwing the disc on “the stack” — that I took it with me and listened to it in my car on the way to wherever. But I did, and am better for it.

The story was unfortunately familiar to Messersmith. “Probably one of my biggest failures of last year was not marketing (the CD) better,” he said. “I did the best with the infrastructure I had to work with.”

Speaking from his home on the edge of The Greenway — a bike path that cuts through the southern part of Minneapolis — Messersmith sounds exactly as you expect the creator of his three albums to sound — warmly quiet, laidback, funny, NPR-intelligent, probably smiling on the other end of the line while he nods his head knowingly.

The Silver City is one of the most straight-out catchy and satisfying albums I’ve ever heard — a floating puffy white cloud in a perfectly blue sky held up lightly on the warm current of Messersmith’s friendly voice that invites listeners to sing along. It was produced by superstar fellow Minneapolitan Dan Wilson, originally famous for Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic until he teamed up with The Dixie Chicks and won a “Song of the Year” Grammy for co-writing “Not Ready to Be Nice.” Wilson’s uncanny knack for melody permeates The Silver City‘s perfectly crafted songs about falling in love in the heart of suburbia.

Now comes The Reluctant Graveyard, the final installment in Messersmith’s three-album song cycle that began with 2006’s The Alcatraz Kid, an album about “me in my basement hating life,” Messersmith said. “It feels like an adolescent-growing-up record. The Silver City is that same person after moving to the suburbs, commuting and going to his job. The Reluctant Graveyard wraps it up with songs about death. Not to sound too morose, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. I’m 30 now and every day I wake up and see a new gray hair. When you’re younger you think that maybe there’s some sort of ‘out’ — a loophole or something or that maybe by the time you get old they’ll have death figured out. So it’s me thinking a lot about the fact that I’m going to die, and asking what am I doing with my life, what’s the point of it all and how do I find enjoyment.”

It sounds depressing, but the record is as fun as any of his others, with the same catchy Beatle-esque, sunny-sidewalk melodies. Messersmith produced this one with Andy Thompson, the two leaning on what they learned from Wilson, especially this golden rule: “Never underestimate the importance of a well-sung line. Make sure that it’s the best it can be, and you’re saying exactly what you want to say.”

How is Messersmith going to avoid having his new album get lost in the endless, fathomless sea of releases? He’s following the path of Radiohead and Trent Reznor by giving it away online. Well, not actually giving it away. Folks that go to jeremymessersmith.com have the option to “Pick your price” to download the album, an option that’s also now available for his first two records. Fans can also buy the album on vinyl, CD and (get this) cassette tape. On average, Messersmith said people pay about a buck download.

“I’d rather have it be easier for people to hear my music, and wouldn’t want money to be a limitation to that,” Messersmith said. “It costs to make the recording, but beyond that it doesn’t cost me anything to distribute or manufacture (mp3 files).”

But doesn’t giving away his music make it harder for those who want to make a living selling music? “I don’t expect everyone to be a winner; someone always has something to lose,” he said. “I don’t make the bulk of my money making music, and maybe never will. This is a sustainable way of doing it.”

Messersmith’s strategic model: Connect with fans as much as possible using the Internet and social media (twitter.com/jmessersmith, Facebook, YouTube), then give them a reason to buy your physical goods — make it something that’s cool and useful. “Touring is the ultimate ‘scarce good’ from an economic standpoint,” said Messersmith, revealing his nerd underbelly. “Scarcity is something you can charge for, and I can only be in one place at a time.

His philosophy while staring in the badly beaten face of the crumbling music industry: “I would rather have a smaller piece of the bigger pie than a larger piece of a smaller pie.”

You’ll have a chance to consume some of Messersmith’s “scarce goods” when he opens for The Mynabirds at their CD release show this Saturday, May 1, at Slowdown. Get there early.

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Yesterday morning, the folks in Digital Leather launched an online effort to generate money to purchase some new equipment. From their Facebook page: “Digital Leather has a new album, which is pretty much the most amazing record ever, and we need to send it out to labels. But first we need some way to self-master and get it there. We found a sweet machine for a relatively low cost, and in exchange for helping us get this mixer/ recorder, you get things.”

The deal: Those who pledge $10 get an album download before the actual release date. And for $15, they get the download plus a vinyl release with a numbered, super-limited edition cover.

They wanted to raise $600 within 45 days. By this morning, they were at $741, and there’s no stopping it. The fact is, $15 is a steal for a download and limited-edition vinyl. Get in on the deal while the getting’s good. Here’s the link to the offer.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room, UK garage-rock queen Holly Golightly and her band, The Brokeoffs, perform in support of their new album, Medicine County (Transdreamer Records). Whipkey/Zimmerman open. $10, 9 p.m.

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Tomorrow: The Mynabirds

Like everyone else, I like to keep up on the weekend party plans in San Francisco, which is how I stumbled upon this item about members of The Faint’s new “Euro-friendly DJ/production team” called Depressed Buttons. According to the SF Weekly blog, the team consists of Clark Baechle, Todd Fink and Jacob Thiele, who they refer to as “the three Omaha-based bandmates” — though last I heard, Todd and Orenda still lived in El Lay. The writer goes on to say they’ve “upped the distorted synths and head-knocking dance beats of their previous gig, The Faint.” Previous gig? So who’s that playing at the MAHA Festival this year? “There isn’t much music to hear from the act online, but we’d wager Depressed Buttons bring it like The Faint conducting a rave.” Hmmm… where did I leave those glow-sticks…

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Tomorrow: Jeremy Messersmith…

After receiving countless complaints from people “going blind” trying to read my blog/website, last night a new, improved and easier-to-read version of Lazy-i.com was quietly launched to an unsuspecting world. Designed by über-genius Donovan Beery of Eleven19.com, the new site uses WordPress technology to better organize and simplify content, allow for easier sharing of stories/blog entries in Facebook/Twitter, and allow for easier reading on a browser or mobile device. Pretty snazzy, eh?

While the design has changed, the content remains the same: Feature interviews, reviews and news with a focus on indie and the best music Omaha has to offer, just like when it all began in ’98. Which is a great segue to telling you that all the old content in the old format continues to live online (for now), and can be found linked under the right-side nav beneath the heading “The First Decade.”

So take a look and give me your feedback, either below this blog entry or in the Forum (i.e., the webboard). This is Lazy-i’s first site redesign in 12 years. Hopefully it’s good enough to last until the next one, which isn’t slated until April 2022.

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Not much to report from this past weekend. I did catch Fang Island at Slowdown Jr. Saturday night and was marginally impressed, if not a tad disappointed. Yeah, the band is blowing up on the strength of its full-length debut, but I found their live presentation somewhat flat and monotonous, especially compared to the record. With their style of metal-flavored prog rock — and a name like Fang Island — I expected something more theatrical than the usual bunch of sloppily dressed guys slouched over their guitars, grunting. Whatever happened to showmanship?

It was yet another strange crowd at Slowdown. Outside on the patio I was cornered by a couple guys who said they were drawn to the “apocalyptic themes” of headliner Red Sparowes’ music, who then went on to tell me how the world is controlled by a league of evil multi-national corporations (Coca-Cola among them) that are using governments (including the United States) as pawns in their evil plot for world domination. I merely nodded, remembering that I, too, was young once. When I discovered that they were Creighton Poli-Sci majors I tried to change the subject to basketball and the just-breaking news that Dana Altman was leaving Creighton to coach at Oregon, but both said (in unison) “We don’t have time for childish endeavors like basketball and college sports.” I merely nodded again, and headed back inside…

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This week: Jeremy Messersmith in Wednesday’s column, and an interview with The Mynabirds’ Laura Burhenn Thursday…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It took an associate of mine to remind me that Everest — last night’s opener for Minus the Bear (along with Little Brazil, who I missed) — also was the opener at last year’s Neil Young concert at Qwest. Now here they were, back down on the club circuit. Americana is the new alt country (and has been for a couple years), and the Everest guys looked the part with their untucked western-cut shirts, work boots and hippie beards. Their sound, however, carried a darkness that belies typical alt country. It would be easy to compare them to The Jayhawks or Wilco, especially considering the lead singer Russell Pollard’s vocal resemblance to Tweedy, but they (thankfully) lacked Wilco’s tendency for wonky jam-band noodling. Everest is more… what? Majestic? Grander? Some of their music teetered on the edge of epic (in line with a band like The National), especially when Pollard dropped his guitar and slid behind a second, smaller trap set. Two drummers is almost always a novelty, and almost always fun to watch. Overall, Everest had a great — if not slightly monotonous — sound. It’s one of those bands whose records would require (many) repeated listenings before they grew on you. (more…)

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s an insanely busy night for live music.

Top of the list is Minus the Bear at The Slowdown with Everest and Little Brazil. Seattle’s Minus the Bear now finds itself on Dangerbird Records (Silversun Pickups) for their next release, Omni, which comes out May 4. I haven’t seen them since they came through here way back in July 2003, when Matt Bayles was still in the band. He left after Menos El Oso came out in ’06. I assume their sound is as mathy as ever. $20. 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, Strokes mastermind Julian Casablancas is playing tonight at The Waiting Room. I’m told this gig originally was slated for Sokol Auditorium and was moved a few weeks ago for reasons one can only speculate. He’s still pushing his solo debut, Phrazes for the Young, out on Rough Trade. Opening is LA female-fronted pop band HAIM. Tickets are $25, starts at 9.

And, tonight is Night 1 of the Omaha Invasion in Lincoln. Below is tonight’s schedule. $6 gets you into all the clubs all night.

12th St. Pub
10:00 – 10:45 Dim Light
11:00 – 11:45 Matt Whipkey
12:00 – 12:45 Brad Hoshaw

Duffy’s Tavern
09:00 – 09:45 Down With The Ship
10:00 – 10:45 Flight Metaphor
11:00 – 11:45 It’s True
12:00 – 12:45 Lonely Estates

Bourbon Theatre
09:30 -10:15 Vago
10:30 – 11:15 The Answer Team
11:30 – 12:15 Paria

Bricktop
Brent Crampton
Kethro
Stryke

And finally, at beautiful O’Leaver’s Pub, it’s Australia’s favorite export, Electric Jellyfish, with Blue Rosa. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One last thought on Harrah’s Stir lounge: I was told that it was designed to be a live performance space, but there’s something about that room that makes it, well, unappealing. Maybe it’s the low ceiling over the stage which gives you the impression that the band is being crowded. Or maybe it’s the blank-white-blue stage lighting that’s about as appealing as being lit by a row of drugstore fluorescent bulbs. Or maybe it’s the flat, brittle sound of the PA — sonically bright with no bottom and plenty of bounce. Needless to say, I didn’t stick around for Little Brazil, who I’m told played a hugely long set…

Column 267: Identity Crisis
Live Review: Digital Leather

I look back at my list of favorite albums from last year and it stands out as a glaring omission: Digital Leather’s Warm Brother.

It’s not entirely my fault. I don’t think I actually bought a copy until late in the year, and then never gave it the time it deserved. I now listen to the CD more than any other on that best-of list. Its strength comes from its songs — an obvious statement I know, but there are no less than six that are absolute killer singles (but which, of course, will never actually be singles): “Your Hand, My Glove,” “Kisses,” “Photo Lie,” “Hurts So Bad,” “Gold Hearts” and centerpiece “Modern Castles,” a breathy, disturbing synth-pop gem, dense and throbbing and gorgeous.

If you grew up in the ’80s, you’ll feel a tinge of recognition when you hear some of these. It’s mostly in the keyboard lines that glow like neon through a dark, tonal undercurrent, and from the brooding, ominous vocals. I’m reminded of Psychedelic Furs, Gary Numan, Peter Murphy, Joy Division and Lou Reed. Warm Brother is retro-modern; a combination of synth-punk, pop, garage and Digital Leather mastermind Shawn Foree’s own unique songwriting voice. If I managed the album’s publishing rights, I’d be hustling these tunes to every savvy movie and television producer in Hollywood who is looking for that perfect song for that perfect moment best experienced in the dark.

So yes, I love this album. It’s not only my favorite from last year, it’s one of my favorites from the past few years, which just happens to be created by someone who lives and breathes right here in Omaha. Foree, who I’ve only met for a brief mumbling conversation outside of The Waiting Room (though we did an email interview for SXSW), is an Omaha transplant from Arizona. What he’s doing here, I do not know, nor does it matter. Find this record, released on Fat Possum, available at the Antiquarium or Homer’s or Drastic Plastic. Call around, it’s worth the effort.

So why am I gushing about an album that came out last fall?

Last Friday night I ventured over the great Missouri River to the house of decadence known as Harrah’s Casino to see Digital Leather perform in the Stir Lounge. Set up more like a strip club than a music venue (then again, doesn’t every venue in Council Bluffs resemble a strip club?), the stage was built behind the bar, effectively turning the bands into a piece of live artwork — like a giant television set or an aquarium or glass-bottomed swimming pool where naked women swim while you order your whiskey sour. Stir was the last place you’d expect to find this band or the night’s headliner, Little Brazil. But to its credit, instead of its usual staple of cover bands, the lounge is hosting Omaha acts over the coming weeks, one assumes to lure the lucrative indie crowd to their smoky boats where the slots and tables live and wheeze.

Digital Leather took the stage at around 9. The five-piece consists of Foree handling vocals and synths, drummer Jeff Lambelet, guitarist Austin Ulmer, bassist John Vredenburg and recently added second synth/keyboard player Annie Dilocker — enough fire-power to fuel any band. Their sound was raw, numbing and very punk, and only vaguely resembled the music heard on Warm Brother. If you listened closely, you’d recognize tiny elements within songs buried beneath the 20-ton wave of guitar/bass/drums. But you’d have to have listened very, very closely.

This is the third time I’ve seen Digital Leather play with this line-up over the past month or so. The other times were at O’Leaver’s and The Mohawk in Austin as part of the South by Southwest Festival. I am now convinced that I’ll never hear Warm Brother performed as it’s heard on the album — a record whose beauty lies more in its subtlety than its power.

Foree instead has decided to recreate those songs as straight-up garage/punk anthems, and it’s a shame. Acoustic guitar is used on about half of the record instead of electric, but it wouldn’t matter if someone was playing acoustic on stage because you’d never hear it behind the wall of sound. Poor Dilocker. I’ve seen her play three times and still don’t know if she’s any good because I can barely hear a note from her keyboard in the mix. She’s like that second guitarist that we all know who, while watching him play, you wonder if his guitar is even plugged in.

I have yet to hear Foree perform the two best songs from the record: “Modern Castles” and “Gold Hearts. Maybe he doesn’t know how to do them live or doesn’t want to marginalize them into just another bam-bam-bam garage rock song. If the latter, I’d prefer that he keep them off the stage (along with the unrecognizable “Hurts So Bad”).

Foree said on his blog that “touring is part of my essence. To not tour is to not be me.” Yet what we hear on stage isn’t what we hear on his recordings. As the creator, he knows the difference. I guess Digital Leather will always be two bands — a studio project and a garage rock project — and never the two shall meet.

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Briefly, starting Thursday Omaha invades Lincoln for the first-ever Omaha Invasion Festival. The three-day event features some of Omaha’s best acts — including Dim Light, It’s True, Conchance, Little Brazil, Capgun Coup, Brad Hoshaw, Matt Whipkey and Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship — playing at four of Lincoln’s best clubs. Get into all four clubs all night for just $6 per night. For more information and a schedule, search “Omaha Invasion 2010” in Facebook.

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One of Slowdown’s early “hits” from an event standpoint was Goo, which had more buzz surrounding it than most of the live performance on Slowdown’s stage. Despite its massive popularity, it didn’t take long for Slowdown to tire of the hassle that came with the theme-related dance event. Goo quickly became a 21+ night, and eventually Slowdown quit hosting Goo altogether. Now Goo returns, this time to The Waiting Room, which in the past hosted Goo-inspired Gunk nights. Tonight they get the real thing. 9 p.m., $5 if you’re under 21 (free if you’re over 21).

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area.